Schenectady park to get improvements

Updated 6:52 am, Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A view of Steinmetz Park on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in Schenectady, NY. The park, which dates back to 1931, will see $650,000 in improvements this year. The lake and stone work in the park were done as part of the WPA. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Steinmetz Park on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in Schenectady,...

A view of Steinmetz Park bathhouse on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in Schenectady, NY. The park, which dates back to 1931, will see $650,000 in improvements this year. The lake and stone work in the park were done as part of the WPA. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Steinmetz Park bathhouse on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in...

A view of Steinmetz Park on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in Schenectady, NY. The park, which dates back to 1931, will see $650,000 in improvements this year. The lake and stone work in the park were done as part of the WPA. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

A view of Steinmetz Park on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in Schenectady,...

A view of Steinmetz Park on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013 in Schenectady, NY. The park, which dates back to 1931, will see $650,000 in improvements this year. The lake and stone work in the park were done as part of the WPA. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

SCHENECTADY — Renovations are coming to historic Steinmetz Park — almost seven years after the city commissioned a study on it.

A pavilion will be built, parking lot created and the bathhouse renovated by year's end, said Commissioner of General Services Carl Olsen.

The parkland on Schenectady's north side was purchased in 1931 and features a lake that is used for fishing and a stone fence around the lake that was constructed by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The 45-acre plot is named for one of General Electric's most influential electrical engineers, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, a German-born math prodigy and pioneer in research on electric motors.

In 2006, a study done by CLA Site, a Saratoga Springs landscape architecture firm, on Steinmetz Park recommended $2 million of work to create trails and athletic fields as well as the currently scheduled work on the teal-colored bathhouse and pavilion. The study was championed by the Steinmetz Park Association, concerned neighbors who organized in 2002. In 2010, a $450,000 grant was obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency, with another $50,000 promised from Schenectady County.

But Olsen said the money just covers the renovation of the bathhouse, which is on Lenox Road, and the construction of the 1,200-square-foot pavilion nearby. The bathhouse will have restrooms and a concession stand and a community meeting room. As part of the federal grant, the city has to promise to put $100,000 worth of labor into the renovations. Work appears to be finally starting as City Council will likely accept the county's money at its meeting next Tuesday.

Olsen said the park, which is bordered by Lenox Road, Gerling Street and Hendrickson Avenue, is already heavily utilized by its immediate neighbors, but it has been difficult to attract outside guests for a basic reason.

"Without a place to go to the bathroom," Olsen said, "it's difficult to spend any real time in the park."